Matthew 5:27

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.' ”

Jesus commences by citing the seventh commandment, and the first thing that will be noted is that He makes no reference to ‘those of old'. These words accompanied reference to the commandment about murder (Matthew 5:21), and will accompany the one about the swearing of oaths (Matthew 5:33). They do not, however, occur in Matthew 5:38; Matthew 5:42 which are similar to here. It may therefore simply be stylistic, or it may be that this commandment was not seen as having been added to by those of old. ‘It was said' is neutral. It simply refers back to the past without necessarily passing a verdict on it. But once again He brings out that the commandment is speaking about more than might at first appear on the surface. He is bringing out that its concern is in the end for the purity of a man and a woman in a lifelong, indissoluble marriage, undisturbed by the effects of man's sinfulness.

Thus He now speaks of anything that might result in adultery, whether through the wife's unfaithfulness, a man's wandering thoughts, or through divorce and remarriage, and warns against them all. To Jesus, anything that might interfere with a lifelong marriage, whether it be by attitude, by invasion by men's thoughts or by the breakdown of the marriage, was to be abhorred, for it was attacking the God-ordained oneness between a husband and wife. For as He will say later, ‘from the beginning it was not so' (Matthew 19:8).